Posted on 02/06/2014 10:04:42 AM PST by nickcarraway
Santa Clara County prosecutors dropped a murder charge Wednesday against a teenager and instead accused his twin brother of the crime.
Duc Tong, 18, had initially been charged with murder in the stabbing death of San Jose State University student Richard Phan, 22, during a birthday party in the city's Piedmont Hills neighborhood.
But at a hearing Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Dan Fehderau said he was dropping the murder case against Duc Tong and instead charging Anh Tong with murder and an enhancement for allegedly using a knife.
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San Jose police have said the two brothers are identical, but Fehderau said he believed they were fraternal twins.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
A pair of tongs. Got some in a kitchen drawer.
Blaming your evil twin only works on soap operas.
I always wondered: if the only evidence prosecutors have for the identity of a murderer is DNA, and the DNA is linked to a man with an identical twin, would he get off? I mean, if there are no witnesses, both guys have no alibi, and there is no other physical evidence that could say which twin committed the crime. Wouldn’t they have to let them go, based on reasonable doubt?
They don’t look identical
And on Criminal Minds.
I assume they would.
Not necessarily.
I know I've mentioned this before, the last time I served on a jury we got talking to the bailiff and he mentioned another trial he has helping with in the same building.
It was a rape case. The prosecution had DNA evidence. The defendant kept blaming his twin brother.
It was his third trial.
several movies have been made on the subject...I believe one was based on facts with Jeremy Irons as the lead
IF the twins are identical the DNA would be like wise identical. The catch is that the finger prints would most likely be different since scars and callouses are not identically obtained.
Catch on this case is while the boys may be twins they are most definitely NOT identical
If they are fraternal twins.. don’t they have different DNA?
This was also a vastly entertaining episode of Columbo guest starring Martin Landau as the twins. Well worth watching if you have Netflix.
Yes, if they are fraternal, the DNA would be different.
I read about a case like that, where the innocent brother was actually arrested several times, but luckily, he had alibis and was able to point the police to his twin as the likely suspect.
. I'm inclined to believe that these two looked enough alike that everyone thought they were identical twins, but now that the DNA testing is back the prosecutor knows they aren't.
From the way they both look, I'll bet their Vietnamese immigrant parents are extremely proud of their little thugs.
Also two tongs don’t make a right.
We must need better police. $250K per year for a police sergeant is apparently just not enough.
Absolutely...but only identical twins.
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=244
Identical twins have same dna, fraternals do not...however there are factors that can distinquish between two, if known.
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